Telling diverse stories

"We just need to find ways to pull these hidden figures into the larger picture," she said.

All students learn aboutDr. Martin Luther King Jr. andRosa Parks. But not as many are familiar with Robert Smallsand Miles James. DaJuan Gay, a recent Annapolis High School graduate, hopes that changes.

He learned about the former pair of civil rights activists in many history classes but had to take an optional African-American history class to learn about the second pair. Smalls was a slave who covertly took over a Confederate ship and set 17 black passengers free. James was an African-American Union soldier awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.

Sometimes the story of black Americans gets left out of major historical lessons, he said. Gay is a University of Maryland, Eastern Shore studentand a candidate for Annapolis city alderman.

After several racial controversies in county schools in the past years, some graduates encouraged the school system to teach students more about the contributions made to American history and literature by people of color, which they said could push back against the mindset that led students at Arundel High School to hand out a petition inJanuary celebrating white supremacy.

About one-fifth of the student population is black. Other students of color, including Asian and Hispanic students, make up about a quarter of student population.

The racist petition compelled the school community to think deeply about the role of education in combating racism. School staff hosted community discussions and introduced literature and lessons that promoted empathy.

Two 2014 Arundel High graduateswrote a letter to school leaders after the hearing about the racist petition and argued the school system's "teaching agendas must be uprooted and revised."

Wilglory Tanjong and Irvin McCullough said they said they were disappointed they never learned about Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist, and James Baldwin, a black American novelist.

"You must affirm to your black students and other students of color that they descend from notable groups of people who contributed bountifully to building our nation," they wrote.

Arundel High Principal Gina Davenportsaid the curriculum has evolved to be more diverse and includes figures mentioned in Tanjong and McCullough's letter.

Arundel High school staff launched a global community citizenship class for the incoming ninth-graders that will teach them to practice empathy toward people from different cultures with different values. The county Board of Education approved the course Wednesday.

"Students will begin with self-exploration to understand what events, traditions, and circumstances have shaped their views, behaviors, and goals, followed by them exploring the cultures, religions, and traditions of people in our community," the course description states.

School staff is always looking to include multiple cultural perspectives into the curriculum, said the schools' Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Michele Batten. The school system follows state standards and school committees vet learning materials for classes.

Shannon Pugh, the manager of assessments at county schools, said those who review history materials considered diversity — for example, how many pictures featured women and how many featured people from different cultures, she said. Pugh said the curriculum team is always looking for new books that excite young people.

But when graduates such as Gay and Tanjong reflect on their education, they still see gaps and wish they heard more about iconic authors like Baldwin or even modern ones like Ta-Nehisi Coates.

"The history of white America is prioritized over the history of minority groups of people," Tanjong said.

Teaching the movement

The Maryland State Department of Educationrequire schools teach the civil rights movement, and such Supreme Court decisions as Plessy v. Ferguson, which held up segregation laws, and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which struck down segregation in schools.

In reviewing Maryland state standards for teaching civil rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching the Movement report gave Maryland a B. The 2014 report listed South Carolina, Louisiana and Georgia as the top states with As and gave many other states failing grades for lacking standards in teaching black American history.

The report criticized Maryland standards for omitting key figures and groups in the civil rights movement, but praised the state for covering tactics used in protesting discrimination.

Tanjong recalled the civil rights lessons in school were mostly about King, Parks and Malcolm X.

"You'd think those three people alone led the movement," Tanjong said.

Gay said he remembers learning about the same black historical figures over and over again, with the exception of an elective African-American history class he took in high school.

"We've been learning about the same people since elementary school," he said.

School systems and teachers follow state standards. But there's some flexibility. Teachers can choose to focus on different aspects of the curriculum and can pick from a variety of reading materials.

McCall Johnson, an Annapolis High graduate,said she remembers that one history teacher made sure to include how black and white American soldiers experienced World War I and World War II differently.

"Black men had to do more dangerous jobs," she said.

Power of stories

Throughout his teenage years, Gay sought out stories about the black American experience. In middle school, he read the Kimani TRU series, which was written for and about black teenagers. He said the family structures in the stories were similar to those of his family and their struggles with money also rang true in his life at the time.

"It seemed as if the books were written for you," he said. "They were so, so relatable."

He didn't always relate to books he read in class.

"Most of the books are extremely old," he said, listing "Frankenstein," "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "The Scarlet Letter" as examples.

Gay wished he read more books on modern issues, such as the Coates' book "Between the World and Me."

But for other students, classics helped them understand powerful and relevant themes.

Cameron Laque, a senior at North County High School, studied slavery and oppression in history class, but it was "A Raisin in the Sun," a play first performed in 1959 about a black family's life under segregation, that helped her gain a deeper understanding of how racism affected African-Americans.

She said she was also moved by Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," a classic that depicts the injustice of institutional racism, and Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart," which shows the clash between Nigeria's white colonial government and tribal culture.

Tanjong said the 2016 book and movie "Hidden Figures" would help bring out contributions of people of color lost in old textbooks.

"We just need to find ways to pull these hidden figures into the larger picture," she said.

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North Carroll Community School students in new building as new year begins

North Carroll Community School students in new building as new year begins

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North Carroll Community School students in new building as new year begins

North Carroll Community School students in new building as new year begins

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CCPS school board votes to terminate Kenneth Fischer

CCPS school board votes to terminate Kenneth Fischer

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County, school system staff check buses before new year begins

County, school system staff check buses before new year begins

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Carroll County Public Schools holds its 2017 Culture Expo at Winters Mill High School in Westminster Thursday, August 17, 2017.

Carroll County Public Schools holds its 2017 Culture Expo at Winters Mill High School in Westminster Thursday, August 17, 2017.